I still get stage fright horribly. I still get nervous. I do tend to find when you're playing characters, often - just for the time you're playing them - there are sides of your personality that get stronger because you draw on them more.

I watched her do speeches, but the only footage we could find of [princess] Margaret was archive footage, which was of her public presentation of herself.

[Princess Margaret] was loud, an extrovert, an exhibitionist, loved fashion, loved color, loved music, loved drama, loved the theater, wanted to be a ballerina or actress, was always the little one putting on the school plays, and [princess] Elizabeth reluctantly did it and got stage fright.

That external struggle mirrors the struggle of this life force of energy that [princess Margaret] was.

My dad is a big extrovert - he's a doctor - but he always loved [William] Shakespeare and he took us to tons of theater.

Some of the biographies [of princess Margaret] were really sensationalist, News of the World sorts, but they were great because they also gave first and secondhand accounts of her at home. The butlers come forward and give little moments, some of which you discard and some which ring somehow true and you use.

I really enjoyed stepping into that side of [princess Margaret] and being silly and naughty and fun.